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Bourdais wins Mexican thriller

Sebastien Bourdais put a bold last-lap pass on pole-sitter Justin Wilson to win the final race of the 2006 Champ Car season

The Newman/Haas Racing driver had already tried round the outside of a damp Peraltada corner at the end of lap 62 before backing off as his car started sliding wide.

However, he maintained the pressure on the RuSPORT driver, despite using up his push-to-pass beforehand, and finally nailed Wilson down the inside on a tight second-gear right-hander.

The cars made brief contact, but Bourdais pulled away to win the last race of Champ Car's 'Lola era'.

Had it not been for the mesmeric battle out front, the star of the race would have been Will Power, who was exceptional when the rain started to fall on lap 26 of the 66-lap event.

The Team Australia driver relentlessly hunted down the second Newman/Haas car of Bruno Junqueira, eventually pressuring the Brazilian into running wide at Turn 1.

In scoring the first podium of his Champ Car career, Power also clinched the series' Rookie of the Year title.

The only man who could have stopped him, CTE Racing-HVM's Dan Clarke, posted the race's only retirement after a mechanical problem.

Behind Junqueira, Alex Tagliani capped a fine day for Team Australia with fifth place, while Nelson Philippe brought CTE Racing some consolation with sixth.

Until the final laps, the Mexican crowds had been left somewhat subdued when their star man Mario Dominguez triggered a shunt as he crossed the start/finish line to start the race.

The Rocketsports driver swerved right, and tried to squeeze between Katherine Legge and the pit-wall, but instead tagged the PKV Racing car, sending it spearing into the wall.

Legge had to make a couple of stops to get her car rectified, but thereafter she put in some stunning lap times that would have seen her finish in the top six without the shunt.

Pos  Driver      Team                          Time        
 1.  Bourdais    Newman/Haas Racing            1h51:31.146
 2.  Wilson      RuSPORT                       + 3.528
 3.  Power       Team Australia Racing         + 46.536
 4.  Junqueira   Newman/Haas Racing            + 1:04.023
 5.  Tagliani    Team Australia Racing         + 1:18.033
 6.  Servia      PKV Racing                    + 1:28.745
 7.  Philippe    CTE Racing HVM                + 1:29.997
 8.  Ranger      Mi-Jack Conquest Racing       + 1 Lap
 9.  Martínez    Forsythe Championship Racing  + 1 Lap
10.  Rice        Forsythe Championship Racing  + 1 Lap
11.  Zwolsman    Mi-Jack Conquest Racing       + 1 Lap
12.  Pizzonia    Rocketsports Racing           + 1 Lap
13.  Heylen      Dale Coyne Racing             + 1 Lap
14.  Briscoe     RuSPORT                       + 2 Laps
15.  Wirth       Dale Coyne Racing             + 2 Laps
16.  Legge       PKV Racing                    + 3 Laps
17.  Dominguez   Rocketsports Racing           + 7 Laps

Not Classified/Retirements:

Driver        Team                     On Lap
Clarke        CTE Racing HVM             7 

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